Texas Tech University

The Merry Widow - Fall Opera Preview

Sara Ayala, Pablo Ponce, Tess Greenlees, & Bill West-Davis

November 2, 2018

The Merry Widow

Take a sneak peek at this dazzling operetta!

The Texas Tech University School of Music is excited to present The Merry Widow, an opera by Franz Lehár, in the Allen Theatre inside the Texas Tech University Student Union Building. There will be two performances:

Friday, November 2, 2018 at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, November 4, 2018 at 2:00 p.m.

Buy your tickets in advance on Eventbrite!

 

This ambitious and exciting production is the result of a collaboration between The Texas Tech University School of Music Opera Theatre and the University Symphony Orchestra. The TTU School of Theatre and Dance's Kyla Olson is the stage director for this production, and musical direction will be provided by conductor Dr. Eric Fried of the School of Music.

We interviewed both Dr. Fried and Josh Reynolds, a senior student in the School of Music from the vocal department who is playing the male lead in the opera. We asked both of our interviewees about how they are enjoying being part of this project and what are the most exciting features the audience is going to find when attending the performances. This is what they shared with us:

Dr. Fried, can you tell us a little bit of what is going to happen at the upcoming opera performances?

"Yes, of course! The Texas Tech University Opera Theatre, in collaboration with the University Symphony Orchestra, is performing Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow. It will be performed in English, with students, singers, dancers, choruses, and the orchestra. It's going to be a very exciting performance. It's one of the most beloved operas (or you may call it operetta) ever written. It's full of Viennese's waltzes and cancans, (with cancan girls on stage), and lots of lush romantic music on stage. It's going to be a real blast!"

Josh, what are you enjoying the most about being the male lead of the opera?

"The character of the opera is very fun, but also there is a lot of tension. It is basically a love story between a playboy that never wants to get married and a woman that has been his lover in the past and comes back to town, after being divorced. Many candidates want to marry her but she finally takes the playboy as a husband, since they fall in love. The opera takes place in Paris. The two main leads of the opera haven't seen each other for a while and they play games with each other. My favorite part of the opera is when everybody is singing, and there is this huge wall of sound. I think everybody in the audience will be blown away!"

This production promises to be wonderful and memorable, gaining a special place among the many successful shows that the TTU Opera Theater has performed over the past several years. Don't miss it!